Press Releases

Detroit, MI – The Michigan Environmental Council called on the State Legislature to provide greater oversight of Michigan utilities today following the release of a report showing that the state’s oldest coal-fired electricity plants cost Michiganders $1.5 billion annually in health care costs.

The costs are avoidable with a comprehensive plan to retire the old plants and replace them with a combination of cheaper, cleaner options to meet Michiganders’ electricity needs.

“Public Health Impacts of Old Coal-Fired Power Plants in Michigan” examines pollution from small particulate matter – the main component in soot. It did not address costs associated with other pollutants, nor the impact of greenhouse gas emissions.

The report found that the state’s nine oldest coal plants cost a family of four an average of over $500 per year in expenses and damages associated with increased hospital admissions, premature deaths and treatments for asthma, respiratory ailments, and cardiovascular problems, among others.

The study also estimated national impacts of Michigan’s old coal power plants, finding that they are responsible for $5.4 billion in health care costs – mostly in the Great Lakes region where much of the pollution falls out.
Those plants began operation between 1949 and 1968 and are among the most polluting and least efficient in the state.

“Keeping these plants limping along is expensive – both in the cost of increasing electricity rates and in health insurance premiums, copays and other expenses related to the damage they do,” said Chris Kolb, president of the Michigan Environmental Council.

Now – with demand for electricity declining and the resurgence of energy efficiency programs and renewable energy options in Michigan – is the time to act, Kolb said.

“We can’t close all these plants at once. But we can – in cooperation with all stakeholders – develop a schedule to replace them with a mix of energy efficiency and renewable power,” said Kolb.

Both renewable energy and efficiency already meet electricity needs more cheaply than building a new coal plant, even before health care costs are accounted for, according to a Michigan Public Service Commission report (Report on Implementation of the P.A. 295 Renewable Energy Standard and the Cost Effectiveness of Energy Standards, February, 2011).

Replacing the coal plants with cleaner options could prevent some or all of the illness and death they cause in Michigan: 180 premature deaths, 233 hospital admissions or emergency room visits, 68,000 asthma exacerbations and 72,000 instances in which children were restricted from school or some other activity.

Nationally, the plants are responsible for 660 premature deaths, 250,000 asthma-related incidents and more than 800 hospital visits for admissions annually, the study found.